Ed Sheeran sings and plays guitar during New York copyright lawsuit

Image source, Reuters

Pop star Ed Sheeran sang and played guitar before a New York jury in a civil trial to decide whether he copied Marvin Gaye's Let's Get it On.

For about an hour at the helm, Sheeran described his entire musical career and performed parts of the song in question, Thinking Out Loud.

Gaye's co-writer Ed Townsend's heirs claim he stole material from the chart-topping hit.

But in court, Sheeran rocked a guitar as he described his artistic process.

"I draw a lot of inspiration from things in my life and my family," Sheeran said, denying he was influenced by Gaye's legendary R&B hit in 1973.

He told the jury how his 2014 song was written at his home in England with his friend and collaborator Amy Wadge.

He said the process started during a brainstorming session, with him saying the line "I'm singing now", which was eventually changed to the title of the song .

"When I write vocal melodies, it's like phonetics," Sheeran said....